


i understand it's not a two-way street

by syrensxng (shootngstxr)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Childhood Friends, Friends to Lovers, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Mutual Pining, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:33:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25271716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shootngstxr/pseuds/syrensxng
Summary: Yamaguchi Tadashi was 8 years old when he saw his first hydrangea flower. He had been on a school trip to a nearby park, with Tsukishima. As a first-grader he’d been an… admittedly distracted child, prone to distraction. It hadn’t been long before he’d dragged a protesting Tsukki away from the rest of the group towards another path.It felt better to be alone with him, anyhow. Though Yamaguchi hadn’t quite understood his feelings yet.“Y-Yamaguchi,” Tsukki said as he was pulled by the hand across a river. He made sure to tread on the stepping stones carefully, adjusting his glasses with his other hand. “I’m not sure if we should be going this way. This is a big park, we could get lost.”
Relationships: Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	i understand it's not a two-way street

Yamaguchi Tadashi was 8 years old when he saw his first hydrangea flower. He had been on a school trip to a nearby park, with Tsukishima. As a first-grader he’d been an… admittedly distracted child, prone to distraction. It hadn’t been long before he’d dragged a protesting Tsukki away from the rest of the group towards another path.

It felt better to be alone with him, anyhow. Though Yamaguchi hadn’t quite understood his feelings yet.

“Y-Yamaguchi,” Tsukki said as he was pulled by the hand across a river. He made sure to tread on the stepping stones carefully, adjusting his glasses with his other hand. “I’m not sure if we should be going this way. This is a big park, we could get lost.”    
And it had indeed been a very big park. The Tsutsujigaoka Park was well-known in Miyagi for its blooming sakura blossoms and gorgeous views. The flowers rained down in multitudes here, floating gracefully towards the grown in windswept twirls. Yamaguchi didn’t think he’d seen anything more beautiful in his life. 

“It’s fine,” he waved, grinning back. “They aren’t  _ too _ far away. I’ve been here a couple times with my dad, remember? I know the way. Besides, Higuchi and Nakahara are back there and I don’t want to talk about that.” Yamaguchi’s mood faltered for a second. They didn’t bully him anymore now that Tsukki was here, but the memories of it were still clear in his head. Jerks. 

Tsukishima seemed to relent at that, too. “Alright,” he said begrudgingly, closing his hand around Yamaguchi’s wrist. “But just for a little while.”

“Promise.” 

They continued walking, down the winding path of the dirt trail. 

After a while Tsukishima piped up again. “Oi, I thought you were showing me a lake or something,” he said, raising an eyebrow. His blond hair was littered with petals when Yamaguchi looked back at him. “We’ve been walking for a while, you know.”

Yamaguchi blinked. “I, uh… It’s not too far from here, I think.” He looked around, about to answer, when he realised he didn’t know where he was. There’d been a familiar statue just a second ago, right? The trees looked all the same here, and with a slight stab of panic he realised none of their surroundings were really familiar. Or they were all  _ too _ familiar. “M-Maybe here!” he pointed at another path where their own diverged. Yamaguchi didn’t want to see the disappointment on Tsukki’s face. 

It was 5 minutes later that Tsukishima spoke up again. “Yamaguchi,” he sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets. He stopped walking and looked around. “Tell me the truth. Are we lost?” 

“I mean, I think I’ve seen this part. The, uh, cherry blossom over there looks sorta familiar…” Tsukki deadpanned. “Okay, yeah, we’re lost. I thought I knew where we were, but everything looks the same here.” 

To his surprise, Tsukishima didn’t look all too upset, though he did sigh deeply at the confession. “Right. We should probably try and retrace our steps. Do you remember which way we came from?” Yamaguchi shook his head. “Me neither. My best guess is that way,” he said, pointing at the path behind them.

They set off soon after, Yamaguchi trailing behind dejectedly. Was Tsukki mad at him? It was hard to tell sometimes, and he was so quiet right now. “I’m sorry for getting us lost, Tsukki,” he piped up. “I didn’t mean to, really, I just remembered this really nice I visited with my dad. I thought it’d be nice to go there with you.” 

“It’s fine,” Tsukishima waved over his shoulder.

Yamaguchi did a double take. “Really?” he asked tentatively.

“Really. I’m… glad you brought me here, believe it or not. Besides, it was nice to get away from those two idiots for once.” His nose scrunched up in disdain and Yamaguchi realised he was talking about Higuchi and Nakahara. “Seriously, don’t those two know when to quit?” 

Tsukki had been hanging out with him for almost half a year now, and in that time Yamaguchi’s life had changed so much. He had a best friend now, for one, and while he’d been brushed off at first, Tsukishima had eventually started seeking the shorter boy out for company. He didn’t get bullied much anymore, either. Whenever Tsukki was around he’d make fun of the boys who bullied Yamaguchi or threaten to call over the teacher. Then he’d walk him home afterwards to make sure they didn’t come back. 

It always made him flustered how cool Tsukki was. There was something about him that made everyone want to impress him, and Yamaguchi knew that better than anyone.

Tsukki glanced over his shoulder. “We should probably focus on getting back to our class now, though.”

“R-Right!” Yamaguchi could already feel his cheeks start to flush.

But despite Tsukishima’s best efforts they remained lost. Instead, they’d found themselves lost in yet another part of the vast park.

“Ah, geez,” Tsukki sighed, rubbing the back of his head. “We must’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere. Come on, Yamaguchi, let’s go.” When the other boy didn’t follow, he nudged him. “Oi, did you hear me?” 

Yamaguchi nodded. He pried his eyes from the scenery hesitantly. “Um, yeah, it’s just… This is a really pretty place, don’t you think?” 

The blond turned to look around. He raised an eyebrow. They’d ended up in a vast, circular garden littered with a whole assortment of vividly colored flowers. It was laid out so there was a birdbath in the center and a maze of hedges leading up to it. Yamaguchi grasped his hand. 

“Why don’t we just check it out first? Not for that long but a little look couldn’t hurt, right?” And with that he headed into the maze.

Tsukishima hesitated, looking behind him. “Wait, Yamaguchi, I really think we should-” But his friend was gone. And, reluctantly, he followed him. 

The maze instead was twisting and overgrown, with long branches that seemed to catch at Tsukki’s clothes at every turn. He frowned at the sensation. “Yamaguchi, slow down!” A leaf caught into his mouth and he sputtered. “Where are you? We need to go.” 

Laughing sounded from somewhere nearby, followed by a call. “I’ll go if you can find me!” Yamaguchi teased. 

“Come on, this isn’t funny! We’re still lost.” Tsukishima spun around, trying to determine the source of the voice. 

“Admit it, you’re enjoying this!” To the left. Or, no, the right? Surely. 

Tsukishima made a random guess and took the path to the right. He ended up in a clearing, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw Yamaguchi’s green hair in a field of flowers. 

“Alright, I found you. Now we have to go back.”

The other boy turned, eyes shining as he laid down in the field. There were purple flowers around him, bunched in circular arrangements. “Okay. But lie down with me, okay?” Ah, another condition. Well, he supposed it couldn’t hurt to fulfill this one. Tsukki walked closer towards him. “Please?” 

And without another word Yamaguchi took his wrist and pulled him down. 

The boy let out an undignified yelp, falling in a heap onto the now-crushed petals. It was surprisingly soft, though he could feel the stems prodding at his clothes. 

He turned to a more comfortable position. Beside him Yamaguchi beamed, smiling innocently at him. 

“Gee, thanks. I love being pulled to the ground onto a bunch of plants.” 

Yamaguchi shrugged. “You looked stressed. Don’t worry too much, Tsukishima. Look how pretty the clouds are today.” 

And they were. From where he was lying, Tsukki could see them passing, the sunlight filtered through the leaves of the sakura trees. 

“They are.” 

Quietly, Yamaguchi began humming a tune. When Tsukishima turned to look at him his eyes were closed, and he was so close to him he could count the freckles on his cheeks. (There were a lot of them.) His eyes opened suddenly, green and hazel in color, and Tsukki turned away, embarrassed. He cleared his throat and stood up to dust his pants.

“We should look for a map, or somewhere recognise. A landmark. Though an adult somewhere around here could help us as well, if we can find one.” Tsukki held his hand out to Yamaguchi, though he didn’t meet his eyes. His gaze was distant, thoughtful.   
Yamaguchi grasped it tightly. “Okay. Sounds like a plan!” he agreed. Tsukishima never saw the smile on his face. 

Before they left, he plucked a single flower and held it out to Tsukki. “Here, take this. Something to remember this place by.” 

“Mm? Oh. I, uh, don’t want to make a mess in my bag. Why don’t you take it?” he waved. He was already heading towards the exit of the maze. 

Yamaguchi did his best to hide his disappointment. “Sure. I’m sure my mom’ll like it,” he said, stuffing it into his backpack. 

They made it back to the group eventually, though it did take a while. The teacher was none too happy to find them missing, and gave them a stern talking to and detention for the rest of the week. Not that either of them minded, really. 

When Yamaguchi arrived home later that night he dragged his backpack to his room and set it down on his desk facing the window. The purple flower he’d stuffed inside was crushed, though just barely. He pulled it out carefully and set it into a vase of water. The sun was setting now, painting the clouds he’d seen before in soft pinks and oranges. 

And as it disappeared Yamaguchi let his head drop onto his folded arms, watching it. He didn’t know yet how much those hydrangeas would come to mean to him, but then they had been pretty flowers to keep in his memory, nothing more. 

The years after would taint their color in time.

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from Yellow by not my weekend. I hope y'all liked it, I plan on writing this series with time skips, over the progression of Yamaguchi and Tsukki's friendship. Hydrangeas can symbolise heartfelt emotion and a desire to understand, but also frigidity and rejection.


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